West Satterleigh Farmhouse

Farmhouse. It was probably built in the early 16th century, with remodeling in the late 16th or early 17th century, and the lower end rebuilt in the 18th century. The construction is rendered stone rubble and cob, with a thatched roof featuring a plain ridge and a hipped end to the right. There is a rear lateral stone rubble hall stack, heightened in brick, and brick stacks to the rear of the lower end. The original plan included two rooms on each side of a cross-passage, containing a staircase at the rear, with an additional staircase in the room to the right, which has separate external access. The hall and unheated inner room to the left of the cross-passage are divided by a thick cob wall partition rising through two storeys. The raised cruck truss over the lower end of the hall is set low in the walls, indicating it was originally an open hall house. It is unclear whether the inner room was initially ceiled, but the early 16th-century doorway between the hall and inner room suggests they were integral. The lower end was entirely rebuilt in the 18th century, arranged with two rooms heated by separate fireplaces set diagonally across the rear, along with a staircase against the rear wall, and a direct entry into the right-hand room. A room on the left in the 20th century was returned to the main range for use as a lower end parlour; the room on the right was unoccupied at the time of the survey (June 1986). The exterior has two storeys and a four-window range. The windows are early 20th-century, with 2-light casements to the upper storey, except for the three-light window at the right end. On the ground floor, there is a single light and a 3-light casement to the hall, to the left of a 19th-century plank door and chamfered door surround to the cross-passage, flanked by buttresses. Two 3-light windows are located to the lower end, flanking a buttress to the left of a corrugated iron lean-to porch with a plank door. The interior is remarkably unspoiled, with minor 20th-century alterations to the lower end parlour and inner room, and a replacement staircase at the rear of the cross-passage. The hall has an open fireplace with dressed stone jambs and a 19th-century lintel concealing the original. It includes a wide chamfered cross ceiling beam with hollow step stops and a chamfered bressumer to the upper end of the hall. A 2-centred arched doorway, with a chamfered surround, leads between the hall and inner room. A 17th-century straight-headed doorway, with hollow-step stops, connects the hall and the inner room chamber. The raised cruck truss over the hall/cross-passage partition is closed at least to collar level; the collar is morticed and tenoned into blade soffits. The purlins, and likely the entire medieval roof structure, appear intact over the hall and inner room. The lower end has trusses with straight principals of a flatter pitch. The joinery is primarily 19th-century, with plank doors intact.